The National Survey of Oral Health in U.S. Adults was designed to establish the prevalence of coronal caries, root surface caries and periodontal destruction in a readily accessible adult population with sufficient precision to permit future detection of changes by geographic region and within five year age intervals. The sampling frames for this survey included U.S. business establishments listed by Standard Industrial Codes (SIC) and maintained by Dun & Bradstreet and county rosters of multipurpose senior centers compiled from lists confirmed by the state and local area agencies on aging. The primary sampling units were counties, the second stage sampled business establishments or senior centers, and the third-stage sampling unit were the employees or senior. The categories of Agriculture and Mining, the military, the permanently unemployed, and persons who are not employed outside the home were excluded from the sample. Both samples were stratified into seven geographic regions of the contiguous 48 states. For employed persons the sample was also stratified by urban/rural, mean income and percent minority in the sampled countries and by size of business establishments. The final sample consisted of 15,132 persons aged 18-64, representing approximately 100 million employed adults in these age groups, and of 5686 retired persons, aged 65-80+, representing 4 million seniors. The survey was conducted under contract with Westat, Inc., of Rockville, Maryland. The data were processed by the Biometry, Section, Epidemiology Branch, NIDR. The detailed findings are presented in two 1987 monographs. "Oral Health of U.S. Adults, National Findings: NIH #872868 and Oral Health of U.S. Adults, Regional Findings: NIH #882869.